Selection: Members are selected by the County Executive and approved by the County Council.

Term Length: Members voluntarily serve a 3-year term with the possibility of re-appointment.

Current members: Visit the CCRB webpage to learn more about current board members (see Board of Directors under the About Us section).

Meetings: Scheduled monthly and open to the public. Meeting schedule, agendas and minutes are available on the CCRB webpage (see Meetings section). If interested in attending the meetings, please contact the CCRB office to confirm the specific location and time.

Application Process and Funding

Applying for Funds: Funding opportunities are announced annually through the CCRB website. Agencies electronically submit applications in September.

Review Process: Applications are reviewed by the CCRB staff and by the Board of Directors. Agencies present their applications during a hearing in November and the Board of Directors makes funding decisions in December. Funded agencies provide services from January through December.

Funding Period: All grants are awarded for one year. The CCRB constantly monitors funding utilization. If agencies are projected to use 95% of their funds or higher, the CCRB generally protects 100% of their dollars for the next year. If agencies are projected to use less than 95% of their funds, the CCRB protects at least the percentage they are expected to use for the following year.

In partnership with 30 agencies, the CCRB partially funds 45 programs that provide services within the categories outlined by the state statute.

Working with Other Funds: The CCRB has an agreement with the Department of Mental Health for two programs serving families with Medicaid (40% of the funding is provided through the Children’s Service Fund, which is matched with 60% of federal funds).

The children and families of St. Charles County have benefited tremendously from the Children’s Services Fund. To learn more about the impact of the fund visit the CCRB website. In the Community Impact section, you can find details about the impact of the funds over the past 10 years. The CCRB is committed to making data-informed decisions. For example, every two years, the CCRB conducts a needs assessment to identify strengths and gaps in current services and the estimated cost for filling those gaps. In addition, the CCRB conducts satisfaction surveys soliciting feedback from service recipients. Reports documenting the finding from the needs assessments and satisfaction surveys are available in the CCRB website (see Publications section). The following stories capture some examples of collaborations that have improved services for children and families in St. Charles County.

Inspiring Stories

Crisis Nursery—Preventing Abuse and Neglect by Providing a Safe Place for Children

In 2007, in response to the Board of Directors’ desire to expand respite services for children at-risk of child abuse and neglect, the Community & Children’s Resource Board (CCRB) initiated the planning phase of building an additional Crisis Nursery site to be located in the western portion of St. Charles County. The CCRB recognized that residents of the western portion of the County had difficulties accessing the Crisis Nurseries in the City of St. Charles and that both neighboring Lincoln and Warren Counties did not have these services available for at-risk families. Providing a safe place for children to stay for a short period of time when parents face difficult times can prevent children from experiencing abuse and neglect.

To address this need, the CCRB reached out to the local hospital owned by SSM Healthcare, which had previously provided a house at their St. Charles location. SSM Healthcare quickly agreed to offer land on their Wentzville campus free of charge. Subsequently, the CCRB approached a local homebuilder who generously agreed to build the home at cost and getting all of his subcontractors to do likewise. This agreement allowed lowering the building costs of the new Crisis Nursery. The involvement of the Mayor of Wentzville was also instrumental in helping the CCRB navigate through Planning and Zoning to get approval from the City Council. In 2008, the Wentzville location of the Crisis Nursery was opened for service—becoming a wonderful example of collaboration and partnership. The CCRB was informed that the first child who stayed at the new nursery upon seeing the room where he would sleep exclaimed, “I am home!”.

When the tax passed in St. Charles County in 2004, the Board of Directors made the decision to abstain from directly funding schools or school districts. Instead, the CCRB made schools and school districts the gatekeepers for services, and no services have been approved on school campuses unless superintendents (public) or principals (private) have signed off on wanting the services. Initially, the schools were inundated with requests from social service agencies interested in providing services, while at the same time, the CCRB was concerned about duplication and unfriendly competition.

In response to these concerns, the agencies that provide prevention programming met to develop a brochure that delineated a menu of available programs, their content, and target age. The brochure, called CAPE (Collaborative Agencies, Prevention Education) is inclusive of all agencies, not only those receiving funds by the from the Children’s Services Fund. The brochure is reviewed and re-published every year, providing a partnership with the schools that avoids duplication and competition while also providing a guide for the schools.